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Albion has strong writing, intriguing characters and one barn-storming lead role. However, it is also flabby, predictable and clichéd so, despite its various strengths, it amounts to a frustrating evening.

Rupert Goold’s previous, James Graham’s Ink, went on to enjoy its present run in the West End. For sheer entertainment value, I’ll be amazed if Mike Bartlett’s stirring eulogy for a disappearing but not completely gone England and Englishness doesn’t go the same way.

Mike Bartlett’s new play Albion is directed by Almeida artistic director Rupert Goold, marking their first collaboration since King Charles III. It runs at the Almeida Theatre until 24 November 2017. What have critics been making of their latest venture?

Albion begins with Audrey, played with indefatigable energy by Victoria Hamilton, in the garden of her deceased uncle’s family home, deep in the English countryside. She has bought the property, which boasts a historic 1920s garden, now much overgrown, which a First World War veteran once formed into a pastoral paradise fit for heroes.

Bertie Carvel’s Murdoch is remarkable, adopting a forward-pressing, tense keen hunch (almost his Trunchbull hunch) denoting a young(ish) man in a hurry, and in a temper with the hidebound old country which has snubbed him often enough.

Summer’s officially over, but don’t be sad – there’s plenty of great theatre to keep you happy. Love London Love Culture’s Emma Clarendon has rounded up the productions she’s most looking forward to in September. With Mates ticket links!

In addition to the West End transfer of James Graham’s Ink, the Almeida Theatre has today announced its new season, including the stage premiere of The Twilight Zone and Mike Bartlett’s new play Albion.

Following its current sell-out season at the Almeida Theatre, which finishes on 5 August, the premiere of Ink, written by James Graham and directed by Rupert Goold, transfers to the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited season.